Prologue: Checkmate
by mangoaddict
Summary: First in my Salvation series. Tess and Max face each other in the pod chamber. If you don't like Tess, you won't like this. You are welcome to read it, but considered yourself warned.


Title: Checkmate

Summary: Tess and Max face each other in the pod chamber.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's note: I am not a rebel , because I don't like Max. So this isn't a rebel story. It is more of a "Tess is really cool and Max is an idiot" story. If you don't like Tess, if you aren't open to the possibility that she _didn't_ kill Alex, and if you are a hardcore dreamer, you won't like this. You are more than welcome to read it, but considered yourself warned.

Also, to understand the story, the bold and italic words are commands in chess. A rook is the castle shaped piece, the knight is the piece that looks like a horse, and the bishop is the one with the pointy top. The letter-number pairs (i.e. D4) correspond to spaces on the board. And I am going to assume that you all know what checkmate means... :)

Please read and review.

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Checkmate

"Max stop! It was Tess. Tess killed Alex. She mind-warped Alex and sent him to Las Cruces to decode the book, but he broke out of the mind-warp and she killed him."

_**White King's pawn to D4.**_

As one, they turned to stare at the brunette. A silence settled over the seven in the cave as they grappled with the new found knowledge. The, as one, they turned to stare at the petite blonde who was subtly moving away from them, her eyes wide with surprise.

"It's true, I was there, I witnessed it!" the Queen's almost-brother declared furiously, his eyes filled with pain. How could she do this to them? To _him_?

The statuesque Princess gasped back a strangled sob, her eyes filling with tears at the mention of the human it had taken her so long to realize she loved.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" the King demanded angrily. He wanted this to be true. He needed a way back to his human love, he needed a way to turn on the alien Queen. He needed to run from her, so that he could deny that the alien in him that had been steadily growing over the past year was not really there. That he was just a normal human boy.

Nobody wants to be different.

And he didn't want it to be true. He didn't want to have been so wrong about her. About trusting her. He didn't want the mother of his first child to be evil.

But he wanted the brunette human more.

"Because she mind-warped me," the human boy answer furiously. So that I couldn't tell you. So that no one would know what she had done. So that she would be safe.

**_Black Queen's pawn to D5._**

"You lived in my home, you were like my sister," he continued, his words harsh and disbelieving. How could I have been so fooled by this girl? How could I have ever thought of her as family.

"How long?" The boy-King gestured to the clock, his eyes dark and brooding.

"About three minutes," was the reply.

"Everyone out," he ordered, never taking his eyes off of the girl in front of him. There was a hesitation, the others did not want to leave. They wanted to kill her. They wanted to rip her limb from limb.

"Max..."

"NOW!"

They left, fleeing the room quickly. As they passed the petite blonde, they gave her looks of the utmost loathing, but said nothing. What was there to say? She was a murderer, a traitor, a soulless devil. She wasn't worth their time.

"Did you kill Alex?"

_**White knight to E3.**_

A silence. A long silence that seemed to stretch on for eternity. It was really only a temporary pause, but for both the King and the Queen, the answer would rule the rest of their lives.

Then again, did it matter what she answered? No matter what she said, she was already evil in his eyes. In all their eyes. No matter what she said, she would always be the villain of the story.

But if he was going to bring her down, she was going to make him suffer while he did it.

"I didn't want to, I wish I hadn't. but I did."

_**Black bishop to E6.**_

The words echoed in the sudden silence of the cave. It was done. The words were out, the line was crossed, and there was no going back. Oddly, this brought a sense of relief to the Queen. What was done was done.

And she felt no regret.

"Why?" The question was sharp, like the crack of a whip or the splintering of a tree branch. The King's face was filled with rage. He advanced on the Queen, forcing her back and away from him.

_**White pawn to C3.**_

"Look, Max, the-the clocks ticking, really don't have time…" One final bid to get him to see the truth in front of him. Open his eyes and look around. There was an entire world waiting for him to save them, and he wanted to stay on Earth? And for what? What was it that was so important to him that he would sacrifice a world of lives?

A human girl.

"Tell me why!"

It was too late, he no longer cared. Her final plea went unanswered by the man who was supposed to love her unconditionally for all of eternity.

Funny how quickly eternity can end.

"He would have told you what I had done, and I couldn't let that happen," she spat quickly, her eyes filled with venom.

**_Black pawn to H5._**

"So you just killed him?"

No! No, of course not. I didn't 'just kill' him. How could you possibly think so low of me? The woman you trusted more than anyone else? The woman to whom you told your darkest secrets and deepest fears, you greatest hopes and strongest dreams. The woman who once ruled at your side? I am your Queen, and this is how you treat me?

How could you think that I would kill in cold blood?

But he would never believe her. He had his precious human love to back him up. Might as well tell him what he already thought. What did it matter anyway?

"I didn't mean to. His brain was just so weakened by the mind-warp, and…" she paused. Could she get him on her side? Probably not, but the desperate heart inside her that still loved him…it still wanted to try. "Look, none of this matters now."

"Life matters, Tess. My life, your life, his…"

**_White bishop to D5, takes Black Queen's pawn._**

And that was what hurt the most. Because her life _never_ mattered to him. And never would. And yet he had the audacity to say that to her? To remind her of the fact that her family didn't care? That the only people who actually cared for her, who would miss her when she was gone, were two humans who she had only known for a little over a year? To throw that all back in her face…

Her blood began to boil.

"What matters is getting home, but you could never understand that, could you? I might have been able to teach you, but that stupid bitch had you wrapped around her…"

_**Black rook to H6.**_

"Don't you ever call her that!" His words reverberated through the empty cave as he pursued the smaller girl in fury.

_**White Bishop to G7.**_

She backed away from him, almost tripping in her haste. The wrath in his eyes terrified her. Only once she had placed the Granolith in between them did she breathe again.

"See! Look how fast you run to her defense! Why couldn't you ever feel that way about me? I'm your wife, Max. I'm carrying your child!"

_Our_ child.

**Black rook to D5, takes White bishop.**

She forced her face to remain an emotionless mask. The fury in her eyes and her voice covered the brief flash of pain that she felt at the words. She would not let him see her hurt.

She needn't have bothered. He wouldn't see it, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

Comprehension dawned on his features and his eyes went wide with shock. Was that all this was about? The baby? "This was all some plan to get pregnant and go home, wasn't it? Home to what, Tess? To Khivar? To our enemies."

**_White knight to D5, takes Black rook. _**

This gave the Queen pause. She had to think, to understand what was going on. The human boy was dead, but no by her hand. So why did her sort-of brother think that? Who was behind it, and why?

And did she care? She could take the Granolith and disappear, slipping away into one of the many planets in the universe. Start over. A new life with her son.

But…

But her sort-of brother and his father. She cared about them. They had not betrayed her. One of them had been mind-warped, it was not his fault. The other did not know what was going on. He would find out, and he would think she had just used him. And he had truly cared about her, so the revelation would hurt him as much as it hurt his son.

And she cared.

God, she did not want to care. But she did.

Damn human emotions.

She could not turn her back on them. She had to find out who was behind this, and if they were still a threat. And if they were a threat, she had to eliminate them.

For her sort-of family's sake.

But she couldn't do it here. She would have to leave, to escape the others. She would have to do this on her own, far away from everything she had ever known. She couldn't stay here, here where the others who thought she was evil were all standing around her, waiting for the moment to strike.

And yet she wanted them to suffer. Make them think they had trusted someone who had betrayed them. Make them think that the human's death was there fault because they had let her in. Make them think she had been using them.

"They aren't my enemies, Max."

_**Black Queen to A5.**_

"You made a deal with them, with Khivar?" Whether it was fear or anger that laced the King's voice, she did not know. Even he did not know. It did not matter either. Afraid or not, he would make her pay.

**_White pawn to B4._**

No, she had not made a deal with them. But Khivar was probably the one behind this charade. Who else could it be? Perhaps if she could get away, she could direct the Granolith to take her somewhere safe. Maybe to Larek. He could help her, possibly explain what had happened. Then she could plan her next move.

But she needed to get out of there, and quickly, before the King lost all self control and killed her on the spot.

It was time to end this.

"No, Nacedo made the deal, 40 years ago."

_**Black pawn to F6.**_

"What was the deal? Tell me!" The King resumed advancing on the Queen. He wanted to know. He wanted every tiny detail, every last horrible thing she had done. He wanted to know it all so that he could retell it to those who waited outside. He could tell them the story of the traitor.

The traitor painted black.

And then he could run to his human and ask her for forgiveness. Maybe she would take him back. Maybe he could be happy.

But first the Queen would pay.

_**White Queen to D5, takes Black rook. Check.**_

"To return home with you child, and deliver the three of you to Khivar." The answer was calculated to cause pain. You claim you never loved me? You claim that I was only a rebound, a woman you could care nothing about? Well, guess what? I never loved you either. In fact, this was all some great scheme of mine to get home. I was just using you. How does it feel to be used? To be nothing but a means to an end? To be _nothing_ at all?

How. Does. It. Feel?

_**Black knight to D5, takes White Queen.**_

"And what would happen to us once you delivered us?" he asked, pausing and glaring at her with a vengeance. An execution? A guillotine, a gallows, a firing squad? Would you watch? Would you laugh? Would you rejoice?

Would the devil take your soul as you mocked us?

_**White rook to H5.**_

Silence. The Queen was suddenly too tired to come up with a lie. Let him use his imagination. Whatever cruelty of hers he invented, it would be worse than anything she could think up.

_**Black pawn to D5.**_

"How did I ever fall in love with someone like you? How could I ever marry you?" he asked, his voice filled with disillusionment. If he had meant to hurt her, he succeeded. He found the right button to push.

She flinched.

_**White rook to D5, takes Black knight.**_

She reeled back and away from him, turning her head slightly so he could not see the tears. I love you. Damn it, no matter what you do, I love you. Can't you see that? Can't you see how much it hurts? Can't you see how much it kills me?

Can't you see that no matter how much I love you, I hate you more?

Flushed crimson with anger, she hit back hard.

"You were different then, you were a king." Her voice was filled with open contempt and derision as she stared at the boy-King in front of her. "Now you are just a boy."

_**Black Queen to C2. Check.**_

It hurt. The words from her mouth hurt him more than anything else she had said. It brought back all his fears. He was just a boy, how was he supposed to deal with all this? How was he supposed to be a King?

And she was throwing his incompetence back into his face. How could he protect them all from the army of enemies threatening to obliterate when he had not even been able to spot the single enemy in their midst?

The King stepped forward and lifted her hand towards her neck. His eyes burned with fire as he called upon the power flowing through his veins. He would kill the traitor. He would remove the threat.

_**White King to E1, moves out of check.**_

She slowly lifted her eyes to meet his own. The year that she had spent with him flashed before her eyes. The people she had tried to befriend, tried to call family…everything she had once loved was gone now. Taken away from her by the failure-of-a-King who stood before her.

But she wasn't the only one going down tonight.

She held his gaze for a beat, her eyes dancing with mocking laughter.

**_Black Queen to C4._**

"You kill me, you kill your son."

_**Checkmate.**_


End file.
